WHIRLPOOL ELECTRONICS
Statistics:
PublicCompany
Incorporated: 1929 as Nineteen Hundred Corporation
Employees: 68,272
Sales: $11.02 billion (2002)
Stock Exchanges: New York Chicago
Ticker Symbol: WHR
NAIC: 333415 Air-Conditioning and Warm Air Heating Equipment and Commercial and Industrial Refrigeration Equipment Manufacturing; 335211 Electric Housewares and Household Fan Manufacturing; 335221 Household Cooking Appliance Manufacturing; 335222 Household Refrigerator and Home Freezer Manufacturing; 335224 Household Laundry Equipment Manufacturing; 335228 Other Major Household Appliance Manufacturing
Company Perspectives:
At Whirlpool, we believe that innovative thinking comes from anyone and anywhere within our company. That's why, in 1999, we launched a worldwide effort to instill innovation as a core competency throughout our organization. Since then, Whirlpool people worldwide have participated in and contributed to innovation-related activities that have resulted in new ideas, products and services that deliver real value to our consumers in ways never before seen in either our company or our industry.
Innovation is Whirlpool Corporation's differentiating strategy, one we believe provides us with a significant competitive advantage. Innovation also brings us closer to our consumers and enables us to meet their unmet needs.
CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS
Our History:
Whirlpool Corporation today is the world's leading manufacturer and marketer of major home appliances. Whirlpool realizes annual sales of approximately $19 billion, has 70,000 employees and maintains 69 manufacturing and technology research centers around the world. We market Whirlpool, Maytag, KitchenAid, Jenn-Air, Amana, Brastemp, Consul, Bauknecht and other major brand names to consumers in nearly every country around the world.
Our beginnings, though, were much more humble, based on a business failure and the vision of one family. In 1908, Lou Upton invested his savings in a venture to manufacture household equipment. When that company failed to materialize,
Lou Upton brought the patents and his innovative vision home to
STRONG BUSINESS ETHICS
The company's first major order for 100 washing machines came almost immediately. A problem arose when a cast-iron gear in the transmission failed — in every single machine. Upon learning of the issue, Lou Upton replaced the defective parts with a new cut-steel gear. Impressed with the fledgling company's business ethics, the customer doubled its order to 200 washing machines.
Upton Machine continued to grow. In order to meet increased customer demand, in 1929 it merged with the Nineteen Hundred Washer Company of
WHIRLPOOL IN THE 1940s AND 1950s
World War II halted washer production, as factories were modified to provide components for the P-40 Warhawk aircrafts and military equipment. More than two million units of war materials were produced, including aircraft propeller pitch controls, trailing edges for fighter wings, hydraulic steering mechanisms for tank retrievers, carburetor parts, pumps, gears and gear cases.
In the summer of 1945, we began producing washers again, anticipating that within three years demand would be twice that of 1941. This began a period of explosive growth that would take us from a small manufacturer of washers and ironers to a large manufacturer of a full line of major home appliances, including the first fully-automatic washer and electric dryer.
In 1949, we changed our company’s name to Whirlpool Corporation to contribute to the recognition of our signature brand. We had grown to lead the industry, achieving $48 million in sales and annual earnings of $3 million.
COMMITMENT TO SOCIETY
Lou and Fred Upton established the Whirlpool Foundation following the war, making a commitment – a promise – to reinvest in the community. Their intent was to provide financial and leadership support for nonprofit organizations dedicated to improving the quality of life in the communities where Whirlpool Corporation operated.
During the post-war boom years of the 1950s, we looked for new ways to expand our product offering. In 1955, we merged with the Seeger Refrigeration Company, which provided us with a quality refrigerator line. As part of the merger we also acquired RCA’s air conditioning and range businesses, allowing us to provide customers with exceptional products that met their needs. In 1958, we took our first tentative step toward operating in foreign markets by entering a partnership with
EXPANSION AND DEDICATED SERVICE
By the start of the 1970s, Whirlpool offered appliances to handle laundry, home heating and cooling, and the full cycle of food preservation, preparation, consumption and cleanup, in the kitchen. We continued introducing innovative products that performed more efficiently and helped make household tasks easier. To support our consumers, we introduced the Cool Line, the first toll-free consumer service support program in the
We formed the Office for Environmental Control in 1970, solidifying our focus on social and environmental responsibility. This group allowed us to standardize strong environmental standards across all of our operations. Concurrently, we formed partnerships with environmental advocates, industry representatives and legislators to help craft robust energy and water efficiency standards, test procedures and policies, a commitment that continues today.
THE FIRST SPACE KITCHEN
In October 1960, Whirlpool received a government contract to design and build
We began growing our international business, expanding into
Whirlpool accelerated our global expansion in the 1990s, with an expanded presence throughout Europe, Latin America, Asia and parts of
GLOBAL APPLIANCE LEADERSHIP
In 2006, we took the significant step of acquiring Maytag Corporation, resulting in an aligned organization able to offer more to consumers in the increasingly competitive global marketplace. The transaction enabled us to become a more efficient supplier to trade customers while offering a broader portfolio of innovative, high-quality branded products and services to consumers.
Our focus on environmental sustainability continued with an emphasis on consistently offering a full line of energy- and water-efficient products. In 2003, we became the world’s first appliance manufacturer to announce a global greenhouse gas reduction target, a 3 percent reduction from 1998 levels by 2008. We revised the target in 2007, to a goal of 6.6 percent reduction by 2012. Currently our operations’ release of toxic chemicals in the
COMMUNITY FOCUS
One of the ways we demonstrate our commitment to community and society is through our partnership with Habitat for Humanity International, which began in 1999, when we began donating a range and an ENERGY STAR®-qualified refrigerator to every Habitat for Humanity home built in
Throughout the years, Whirlpool has built a culture of doing the right thing based on living up to our commitments to stakeholders and by quietly working behind the scenes to strengthen the economic and social fabric of the communities in which we operate. Our employees live by the values that have made our company the international leader that it is today. We are delivering strong performance, providing an outstanding portfolio of brands, and we’re creating better, more innovative products that improve consumers’ lives in and around the home each and every day. Nearly 100 years ago, the
Principal Subsidiaries: Empreso Brasileira de Compressores S.A. (Brazil; 94%); Multibrás S.A. Eletrodomésticos (Brazil; 94%); Whirlpool Canada Inc.; Whirlpool do Brasil Ltda. (Brazil); Whirlpool Europe B.V. (Netherlands); Whirlpool Financial Corporation; Whirlpool Mexico, S.A. de C.V.; Whirlpool Patents Company; Whirlpool Properties, Inc.
Principal Operating Units: Whirlpool North America; Whirlpool Europe; Whirlpool Latin America; Whirlpool
Principal Competitors: GE Consumer Products; Maytag Corporation; AB Electrolux; BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH; Merloni Elettrodomestici S.p.A.; El.Fi Elettrofinanziaria S.p.A.
OVERVIEW OF COMPANY
Whirlpool Corporation is a leader of the $100 billion global home appliance industry. Our appliances are marketed in nearly every country around the world.
LEADING BRANDS:
Whirlpool manufactures appliances across all major categories, including fabric care, cooking, refrigeration, dishwashers, countertop appliances, garage organization and water filtration.
Leading Brands
Whirlpool markets some of the world’s most recognized appliance brands, including Whirlpool, Maytag, KitchenAid, Jenn-Air, Amana, Bauknecht, Brastemp and Consul.
The Whirlpool brand is the world's No. 1 global appliance brand and ranks among the world's most valuable brands identified by Brand Finance, the world’s leading independent brand valuation and marketing metrics consultancy.
OUR VISION:
Our Vision
Every Home… Everywhere… with Pride, Passion and Performance
Our vision reinforces that every home is our domain, every customer and customer activity our opportunity. This vision fuels the passion that we have for our customers, pushing us to provide innovative solutions to uniquely meet their needs.
Pride... in our work and each other
Passion... for creating unmatched customer loyalty for our brands
Performance... that excites and rewards global investors with superior returns
We bring this vision to life through the power of our unique global enterprise and our outstanding people... working together... everywhere.
OUR
O
Everyone, Passionately Creating Loyal Customers for Life
Our mission defines our focus and what we do differently to create value. We are a company of people captivated with creating loyal customers. From every job, across every contact, we will build unmatched customer loyalty…one customer at a time.
OUR VALUES:
Our Values
Our values are constant and define the way that all Whirlpool Corporation employees are expected to behave and conduct business everywhere in the world.
Respect — We must trust one another as individuals and value the capabilities and contributions of each person.
Integrity — We must conduct all aspects of business honorably – ever mindful of the longtime Whirlpool Corporation belief that there is no right way to do a wrong thing.
Diversity and Inclusion — We must maintain the broad diversity of Whirlpool people and ideas. Diversity honors differences, while inclusion allows everyone to contribute. Together, we create value.
Teamwork — We must recognize that pride results in working together to unleash everyone’s potential, achieving exceptional results.
Spirit of Winning — We must promote a Whirlpool culture that enables individuals and teams to reach and take pride in extraordinary results and further inspire the "Spirit of Winning" in all of us.
PRODUCTS MANUFACTERED BY WHIRLPOOL
STRATEGY:
What truly distinguishes Whirlpool Corporation is our commitment to building strong brands and a loyal consumer base. Around the globe, our customers trust Whirlpool to make their lives easier. Everything we do contributes to building unmatched levels of loyalty to our brands through lifelong relationships with our customers.
We are committed to our brand value-creation strategy—focusing on innovation, cost productivity, product quality and consumer value. We continue to improve our global operating platform to ensure we are the best-cost and best-quality appliance manufacturer worldwide. Our supply chain has been transformed to better deliver products to trade customers and consumers. And we are seeing the benefits of these actions today through a stronger network, increased efficiencies and timely deliveries.
Our focus now, and in the future, is on more than just creating great products. We’re focused on maximizing the benefits of our worldwide network of resources, which is unmatched in the industry. We’re creating better, more innovative products that improve consumers' lives—in and around the home—each and every day. And we’re committed to being an agile, global consumer products company that creates value through our brands and innovations. We know that our compelling and growing brands, fueled with innovation, attract and retain loyal customers for life.
Innovation:
Whirlpool Corporation firmly believes innovative thinking comes from everyone, everywhere. Nearly 10 years ago, we launched a worldwide effort to instill innovation as a core competency throughout the entire organization. Since then, Whirlpool employees worldwide have participated in and contributed to innovation-related activities resulting in new ideas, products and services; thus delivering real value to consumers in ways never before seen in either the company or the home appliance industry.
Focused on embedding innovation as a core competency, Whirlpool Corporation has made a long-standing investment to build this competency. This investment includes redesigning business processes, training thousands of employees, building an innovation management system and changing the culture of the company.
Innovation attracts consumers to our wide portfolio of brands; however it also offers a sustainable competitive advantage. In 2007, Whirlpool Corporation generated more than $2.5 billion of worldwide revenue from product innovations—well exceeding projected targets for the year—and the robust pipeline of $4.5 billion will allow for continued growth over time.
QUALITY:
Whirlpool Corporation is committed to building products that consumers around the world can depend on to meet their daily needs. This commitment to quality begins in the concept stages and continues throughout the lifetime of the appliance. The result of these efforts is a sustainable and competitive advantage for the company.
Globally, Whirlpool Corporation manufactures products using principles of lean manufacturing and operational excellence to ensure continuous improvement of processes and to produce products that meet the company's high-quality standards.
At Whirlpool, there is a constant focus on seeking out new and unique ways to improve the function, performance and sustainability of our products.
Whirlpool Quality
FUTURE ASPECTS:
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KOLKATA: Home appliances major Whirlpool is drawing up a strategy to achieve market leadership in
The Indian arm of the $18- billion firm, Whirlpool
The company, which enjoys a 5% share in the AC and microwave market, intends to it double by end-2008. In the washing machine segment, Whirlpool’s share is about 16%. Incidentally, the company had attained market leadership in direct cool refrigerators with 24% market share in 2007. It had sold 1.1 million refrigerators last year and now the focus would be to beef up presence in frost-free segment.
Whirlpool
The company had recently invested around $20 million in new product development.It is now drawing up the finer details for the next phase of investment to further consolidate presence in the home appliance market.
COMMUNICATION
Communication
“Any act by which one person gives to or receives from another person information about that person’s needs, desires, perceptions, knowledge, or affective states.
Communication may be intentional or unintentional, it may involve conventional or unconventional signals, may take linguistic or non-linguistic forms, and may occur through spoken or other modes.”
Or in simple words;
Communication is the exchange of ideas, opinions and information through written or spoken words, symbols or actions.
Communication is a dialogue, not a monologue. In fact, communication is more concerned with a dual listening process. For communication to be effective, the message must mean the same thing to both the sender and the receiver.
Business Communication:
Business Communication is any communication used to promote a product, service, or organization - with the objective of making sale.
In business communication, message is conveyed through various channels of communication including internet, print (publications), radio, television, outdoor, and word of mouth.
In business, communication is considered core among business, interpersonal skills and etiquette.
Historical Background
Thousands years ago, people use to communicate orally. Greeks use a phonetic alphabet written from left to right. After that, many books appeared on written communication principles. In a result of this, Greek started her very first library.
When communism was ruling
Hence, today’s principles of communications are founded on a mixture of ancient oral and written traditions.
Organization
The arrangements between individuals and groups in human society that structure relationships and activities (Business, Political, Religious or social).
In other words,
A group of people identified by shared interests or purpose, for example, a “Bank”.
Lifeblood of an Organization
Communication is the lifeblood of an organization. If we could somehow remove communication flows from an organization, we would not have an organization.
It is needed for:
1-Exchanging information
2-Exchanging options
3-Making plans and proposals
4-Reaching agreement
5-Executing decisions
6-Sending and fulfilling orders
7-Conducting sales
When communication stops, organized activity ceases to exist. Individual uncoordinated activity returns in an organization. So, Communication in an organization, is as vital as blood for life.
Types of Business Communication
There are two types of business communication in an organization:
1-Internal Communication:
Communication within an organization is called “Internal Communication”.
It includes all communication within an organization. It may be informal or a formal function or department providing communication in various forms to employees.
Effective internal communication is a vital mean of addressing organizational concerns. Good communication may help to increase job satisfaction, safety, productivity, and profits and decrease grievances and turnover.
Under Internal Business Communication types there come;
a)Upward Communication
b)DownwardCommunication
c) Horizontal/Literal communication
a) Upward Communication
Upward communication is the flow of information from subordinates to superiors, or from employees to management. Without upward communication, management works in a vacuum, not knowing if messages have been received properly, or if other problems exist in the organization.
By definition, communication is a two-way affair. Yet for effective two-way organizational communication to occur, it must begin from the bottom.
Upward Communication is a mean for staff to:
1-Exchange information
2-Offer ideas
3-Express enthusiasm
4-Achieve job satisfaction
5-Provide feedback
b)Downward Communication
Information flowing from the top of the organizational management hierarchy and telling people in the organization what is important (mission) and what is valued (policies).
Downward communication generally provides enabling information - which allows a subordinate to do something.
e.g.: Instructions on how to do a task.
Downward communication comes after upward communications have been successfully established. This type of communication is needed in an organization to:
1-Transmit vital information
2-Give instructions
3-Encourage 2-way discussion
4-Announce decisions
5-Seek cooperation
6-Provide motivation
7-Boost morale
8-Increase efficiency
9-Obtain feedback
Both Downward & Upward Communications are collectively called “Vertical Communication”
c) Horizontal/Literal communication
Horizontal communication normally involves coordinating information, and allows people with the same or similar rank in an organization to cooperate or collaborate. Communication among employees at the same level is crucial for the accomplishment of work.Horizontal Communication is essential for:
1-Solving problems
2-Accomplishing tasks
3-Improving teamwork
4-Building goodwill
5-Boosting efficiency
2-External Communication:
Communication with people outside the company is called “external communication”. Supervisors communicate with sources outside the organization, such as vendors and customers.It leads to better;
1-Sales volume
2-Public credibility
3-Operational efficiency
4-Company profits
It should improve
1-Overall performancee
2-Public goodwill
3-Corporate image
Ultimately, it helps to achieve
1-Organizational goals
2-Customer satisfaction
METHODS OF COMMUNICATION USED IN WHIRLPOOL
THE VARIOUS METHODS USED IN WHIRLPOOL CORPORATION FOR COMMUNICATION PURPOSE ARE AS FOLLOWS:
1-Face-to-face is still a valuable tool for imparting and building trust, negotiating, enthusing.
2-Video-conferencing allows some of the benefits of meeting in person without the travel - especially if the purpose of the meeting is transactional
3-Telephone - personal but loses the nuance of body expressions - a major part of communication. Voicemail and ’call waiting’ have generated enormous revenues although their effectiveness is debatable.
4-Mobile phone - if a conventional call is to a location, a call to a mobile is to a person. Some people think that the major use of this is as a tool for making calls...
5-Letter - still an excellent tool for contractual and complex communications, also for drawings.
6-E-mail - quicker and cheaper than a letter, the biggest danger here is that too few people re-read what has been written before hitting the ’send’ button. Also a point of danger for systems - you won’t get anthrax but some e-mails will be as terminal to your office systems if you aren’t careful.
7-Fax - the last ’big thing’ before e-mail usurped it; is still an excellent tool for getting pictures sent quickly.
8-Text -For the worst of all worlds, SMS ("Texting") to a mobile ’phone is high on impact but often low on clarity and personalisation.
9-Computer systems can talk directly to each other - settling invoices direct between company accounts for instance.
10-Websites - largely aimed at one-way communications, the Internet has transformed the way that we can get hold of information.
11-WAP phones - the internet on the move.
COMPARISON OF VARIOUS METHODS USED
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REFERENCES
1-http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Whirlpool-Corporation-Company-History.html
2- http://www.whirlpoolcorp.com
3-http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Cons_Products/Electronics/Whirlpool_targets_leadership_in_Indian_market/articleshow/2856479.cms
4- http://www.whirlpool.com/home.jsp
5- http://www.rizwanashraf.com/2008/02/04/business-communication-and-its-types/
6- http://www.fastrak-consulting.co.uk/tactix/features/commopts/comopt07.htm
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